Separating the Artist and Their Art

[David]

...but my previous comment about the poll was partly because I've been conditioned to get more data from people after having worked at a market research company for years.

Thread after thread of people rarely 'playing by the rules' where topics such as name your top five Spider-Man stories and which seven heroes make up your Justice League of America are the norm means we're always going to get more data regardless of the question asked.

And I've enjoyed it a great deal because the answers in this thread are pretty varied make an entertaining read.

[leafinsectman (Dan)]

And I've enjoyed it a great deal because the answers in this thread are pretty varied make an entertaining read.

Yeah it's great in terms of qualitative data. I just voted and I was surprised by the numbers. It didn't seem like it was 80% yes and 20% no based on the responses on this thread.

I think I've mainly been able to do it when it comes to comics but I answered NO because I can imagine some scenarios where I wouldn't be able to do it.

[David]

Yeah it's great in terms of qualitative data. I just voted and I was surprised by the numbers. It didn't seem like it was 80% yes and 20% no based on the responses on this thread.

Definitely.

I was wondering if people voted and didn't post or voted yes and then wrote about how they met a creator and always think about that meeting when reading their work.

[Jim B.]

Last week my wife and I experienced Siegfried, the third part of Wagner's Ring cycle.  Richard Wagner was a horrible anti-Semite, but damn, did he make some great music.  Knowing what I know about him didn't affect my enjoyment of his work at all.

And if tomorrow I learned that my personal idols Bill Sienkiewicz, James Robinson, and Terry Moore were avowed Tea Partiers, I would still love their comics work.... And even if conservative politics do bleed into the work, as long as it's challenging (or at least interesting a la Mickey Rossi's Ditko example), then yeah, bring it.  Knee-jerk liberalism is no more compelling than knee-jerk conservatism to this liberal -- Judd Winick wrote some cringe-worthy shit not too long ago.



All that being said:  Fuck Frank Miller. 

[GLewis]

I just want to clarify my earlier statement a bit. I don't care that Miller doesn't like Occupy. What bothered me were his insults. He was just being a real ass.

[Jon O]

I suppose if I can read and enjoy and fucked up story told well, then I sure as heck can enjoy a well told story told by a fucker.

And to be fair, I enjoy transparently personal stories. 

[JasonF]

I can separate thevartist from the work, but there are also certain artists where I just don't want to put money in their pocket.  Doesn't make the art any less good, but I make a decision not to patronize them because I don't want to subsidize them.

[valance_the_hunter]

Thought provoking post, David.  

I said yes, but it wasn't necessarily any easy decision once you brought Justiano into the equation.

I would, however, SEPARATE Justiano's shoulders if he got any where near my godson.

[mguy1977]

As for what comic creators say publicly on a issue is fine. America is a free country, but I doesn't mean I have to like what you are saying comic creator. This goes for Frank Miller on this issue or the next comic creator who wants to spill their dollar's worth of nonsense on a future controversial topic.

I try my best to separate the art from the artist & what that person says as best one can.  However that doesn't mean I will keep my mouth shut either on a particular topic.  

Matthew (Occupy Wall Street, Main Street, at the Ballot Box & Speak Up & Out)

[Ken.W]

I think you "have" to be able to separate the two, and let the Art stand on its own merit, no matter if the artist is one messed up individual (on any level you care to define). Frank's a mess-up  , but boy .. do I ever enjoy his Daredevil work.

If you can't separate the Art from the Artist .. then .. all's lost 

[Dave Wyndorf]

Trust the art, not the artist.

[VinceB]

If you can't separate the Art from the Artist .. then .. all's lost 

Trust the art, not the artist.

Truth. 

[slurmo]

In my twitter conversation with Felipe I tried to make the point that the work remains the work. If a cherished artist/writer "goes off the deep end" the work never changes. Our perceptions of the work changes because of interactions outside of the actual piece of work. We change, the work doesn't.

"It's not you, it's me"

The work remains the work.

[David]

In my twitter conversation with Felipe I tried to make the point that the work remains the work. If a cherished artist/writer "goes off the deep end" the work never changes.

[slightly off-topic] Which is why I always scratch my head when someone tells me a story was better because they bought it from the three-for-a-dollar bin.  What you paid for it has no bearing on the story. [/slightly off-topic]

[VinceB]

The work remains the work.

The primacy of the art cannot be challenged. It's preeminent. Static. Unchanging. Perfect.

[Felipe!!!]

In my twitter conversation with Felipe I tried to make the point that the work remains the work. If a cherished artist/writer "goes off the deep end" the work never changes. Our perceptions of the work changes because of interactions outside of the actual piece of work. We change, the work doesn't.

"It's not you, it's me"

The work remains the work.

Work, not matter what you do is influenced by who you are and reflected in such work.

[zack kruse]

The primacy of the art cannot be challenged. It's preeminent. Static. Unchanging. Perfect.

[Julian Lytle]

The primacy of the art cannot be challenged. It's preeminent. Static. Unchanging. Perfect.

Art isn't perfect. Nothing a human can make is perfect. It's an unachievable ideal. The work is the work. But it also comes from the artist so things of the artist is there. It can't escape it.

[VinceB]

Art isn't perfect. Nothing a human can make is perfect. It's an unachievable ideal. The work is the work. But it also comes from the artist so things of the artist is there. It can't escape it.

I'm not talking perfection in terms of quality, but the fact that the art exists in an unchanging state and is affected by nothing. Perfect.

[Julian Lytle]

I'm not talking perfection in terms of quality, but the fact that the art exists in an unchanging state and is affected by nothing. Perfect.

Yes I guess. But I think that might depend on the art you make.